CEEA Talks: Filip Pošivač and Bára Chaberová about THE AXOLOTLS “Real species in an unreal fantasy world”

The most colourful project pitched this year at the CEE Animation Forum was undoubtedly THE AXOLOTLS. And since TONY, SHELLY AND THE MAGIC LIGHT, we know how good Filip Pošivač is with colours! But the most remarkable thing about the project he pitched together with Bára Chaberová (Bionaut) is that it is about axellotles… axoletls… axelotas…

Let’s solve one problem first. Remembering the correct spelling of ‘axolotls’ is impossible. I can suggest you animals like ‘cat’ or ‘dog’ which contain only three letters, and no ‘x’ among them.

Filip Pošivač: Axolotls are very popular, especially among children. Probably 50% of our audience will be crazy about axolotls, the other 50% will never have heard of them.

Bára Chaberová: In Czech language the word isn’t so difficult to pronounce. But when I first mentioned it with a potential Scandinavian co-producer, he almost choked on it. We haven’t decided about the final title yet. Axolotls are also called ‘water dragons’ which might sound better for the sake of the movie.

I think you simply chose them because they must be easy to animate!

Pošivač: Animals are never easy to animate in terms of emotions. When I first read about them, I thought they were such original, unique creatures, but these days they are widely known and hugely popular on the internet – there’s a lot of Instagram pages dedicated to axolotls and their cute smiling faces. They are endangered species, mainly living in Mexican lakes, but more and more people keep them in an aquarium. All this makes them an interesting subject for a film script.

In your director’s statement you describe pretty clearly what the story is about.

Pošivač: It’s about a father and his son Axl, living with their axolotl family in a little village at the bottom of a lake, polluted with garbage. Dad has his hands full with saving the village, the eggs and the babies, and he has little time to communicate with Axl and his sister Lota, which creates some tensions. Enough for Axl to run away from home…

Chaberová: Basically it’s a story about relationships, based on Filip’s personal experience. He told us how he struggles to communicate with his children and how difficult it is to be a good parent. This father-son relationship is depicted in a bigger framework, involving the entire axolotl community, the polluted environment, and the adventure Axl finds himself in.

Usually people make films about their own childhood traumas while you are already making a film about your sons’ future trauma due to growing up with a terrible father.

Pošivač: I remember the conflicts with my father when I was 10, and I often project them on my relationship with my own children – I have two boys, aged 10 and 7. I see the mistakes that I make every day, my failures towards my family, friends, professional relationships, etc. This feeling is shared by all my friends. One day I had an argument with my son and he threatened to run away from home. I thought: he will never do that. But he did it anyway! Later he explained to me that he was afraid I didn’t love him anymore. That’s when I realised how important it is to talk about our moods and needs – as nobody can read your mind, such emotions should be talked about. In that sense the lake is a symbol of our society.

Chaberová: So many people feel like they’re failing every day. The online presence of these perfect influencer super mums and dads, who always look great and know how to react can be overwhelming. Our message to the world is: you’re doing well, you are okay, trying to live your life the normal way. Don’t be harsh on yourself – we all have situations to deal with.

I’m looking forward to seeing that underwater world. Usually, this environment is home to the most bizarre and weird creatures. I suppose you will use this opportunity to take us to a most freaky universe?

Chaberová: You will meet there a rich diversity of specimens of different gender and generations… We will have jellyfishes, spikes, spiders in a bubble,… This perfectly corresponds with Filip’s signature aquarelle style. I’m sure it will look amazing.

Pošivač: We did research about wildlife in lakes and we will use real animal species – did you know there are jellyfishes living in lakes? – but present them in a more unreal fantasy world.

I’ll be looking forward to that. Where are you right now in the production process?

Chaberová: Completing the development stage. But before funding is secured, nothing can be made concrete. We will now apply for Czech funding, and hopefully international support will follow. We’d like to go into production in two years. We have a script and a teaser, we know about the budget and technology, and we’re ready to share all this with possible co-producers.

What are you looking for in a co-producer?

Chaberová: I would love to find an animation studio, experienced in working with both 2D and 3D. I’d prefer a small studio with people with whom you can communicate and share the basic idea. We’ve set our minds on Cartoon Movie to find partners.

Pošivač: I would appreciate some good designers. We have several talented people In the Czech Republic with whom I’d love to cooperate.

You already received European funding.

Chaberová: The development budget was secured through MEDIA – Creative Europe, the Czech Film Fund and the Czech Ministry of Culture. But now comes the toughest part: the production budget.

€4 million is pretty ambitious in terms of budget.

Chaberová: Since we will probably start producing only in two years, a certain inflation is included. We would love to work with a bunch of great people and we want them to be happy to work with us, so we have to pay them correctly.

What makes THE AXOLOTLS a typical Bionaut production?

Chaberová: At Bionaut we strive for authentic, personal stories. If you invest so much time, money and energy in a project, it is only worth it if you can put your heart and soul into it. Like my teacher used to say: “Put life into that film!” You need to feel that what you do is important.

Bionaut is not in the first place focused on animation.

Chaberová: Our spectrum is very wide; TV series, features, documentaries, shorts… My personal focus is on animation, together with Vratislav Šlajer and Jakub Kostal, who is currently working on a TV special, called 9 MILLION COLORS. With ROSA & DARA AND THEIR GREAT SUMMER ADVENTURE we have another feature animation in production.

THE AXOLOTLS was pitched successfully at the CEEA Forum, where you won a direct access to Cartoon Movie.

Pošivač: I was overly nervous because so many friends, colleagues and former classmates were there. You have so few minutes and so many things to tell, in a language that I don’t perfectly master. You depend on the mood of the audience, and that chemistry is hard to predict, but the atmosphere was super nice and friendly,

Chaberová: We already pitched at Cinekid two weeks earlier, and Filip and I both like to be well prepared. We rehearsed properly and then the adrenaline did the rest.

Your first film TONY, SHELLY AND THE MAGIC LIGHT was done at NUTprodukcia, and did pretty well, especially at the festivals. Now you work with Bionaut.

Pošivač: Bara and I first cooperated on HUNGRY BEAR TALES in 2015, and we developed a friendly collegial relationship. When I had the first idea for this film, I knew instinctively that both the vibe and the technology of the project would fit her perfectly. After almost 10 years with NUTprodukcia, it was time for a change. This was a great opportunity, and I hope Bara thinks the same about it.

Can you tell a bit more about the 2D / 3D combination?

Pošivač: We like to call it 2,5D animation, with 3D animation for the characters and environment, and 2D for props, facial expressions, etc. The visual aspect of the film will be rather peculiar, so it needs to be balanced very carefully.

Chaberová: We strive for a kind of live feeling, using the camera from different angles. When working on the teaser, we searched for a compromise that works best for Filip’s visual style. We are pretty happy with the result and with the nice feedback at the Animation Forum, but we need to run more tests to finalise it.

Somebody felt inspired, suggesting to call the axolotls Axl and Lota…

Pošivač: I guess it was our scriptwriter Štěpánka Ansorge. We’ve been discussing the project for hours with our dramaturgs, and would like to add a humorous layer based on the dynamics among siblings. Anyone who has siblings will recognise that type of joking and teasing.

Humour and seriousness can go hand in hand?

Pošivač: I give great importance to telling about a relationship between father and son. I see many sons being brought up by their fathers with stereotypical ideas about how boys should behave. Among parents, I see a lot of men being closed off, refusing to talk about emotions. I want the audience to read between the lines that it’s important to talk to each other.

Chaberová: We’re consulting this element with a psychologist, who helps us with the orientation of the story. She is a great lady, very experienced with young children.

Is she also experienced with axolotls?

Chaberová: Of course! You should have seen the advertisement we published in the newspaper: “Looking for psychologist, experienced with kids and axolotls.”

Interview conducted by Gert Hermans for CEE Animation.